To spite America, Iraq buys T-90MS Tagil from Russia.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

And the people coming against them have a "sh!Tload" of air power at there disposal and AWACS aircraft/satellites to detect these desert bound tanks.

Why do you think during both Gulf wars the Iraqis were abandoning there armour in droves?

Because the desert and road systems that cross them were a deathtrap for said armour, nothing more than sitting targets really.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Wide-Eyes

And the people coming against them have a "sh!Tload" of air power at there disposal and AWACS aircraft/satellites to detect these desert bound tanks.

Why do you think during both Gulf wars the Iraqis were abandoning there armour in droves?

Because the desert and road systems that cross them were a deathtrap for said armour, nothing more than sitting targets really.

The Gulf war is over bro. Just because air superiority at the time was lethal to tanks, Iraq's enemies don't have an Airforce.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

No but they would probobly have the Western nations back up, hence air power at there disposal should Iraq ever try and rear its head militarily in the Middle East again, that's a given really.

Iraq wont ever be allowed to have a significant air force or air defence network in the foreseeable future.

Certainly not anything that could change the balance of power anyway.

a reply to: paraphi

f your argument that anything "made in America" must be supplied by the US,

Not 'anything', US TOW missiles specifically, and as stated and linked, by Proxy thru sales direct to Saudi Arabia.

Nice try ...

Are tanks still a viable thing?

Aren't they sitting ducks compared to the air power game?

I was under the impression that tanks were going the way of the battleship.

Genuine question... not in the know on these things.

a reply to: andy06shake

There is absolutely nothing stopping them buying Russian or Chinese air defence, certainly nothing the West can do to stop it.

The ball is on in China's and Russia's court when it comes to that.

a reply to: Nexttimemaybe

That's true but the military industrial complex responsible for such weapons sales probobly collaborate regarding whats acceptable to be deployed in different nations according to there agenda.

Cant really see Russia wanting to be responsible for destabilising the area anymore than it already is so soon after the Syrian debacle.

Don't imagine Russia would be willing to deploy there state of the art SAM systems in Iraq. Not suggesting Russia wont sell them the export models but don't see them giving access to there best air defence technologies short of some other incident prompting them to do so, they don't even sell the state of the art gear to Iran.

As to China well who knows what they are all about? They are the wildcard really.

20-40 years down the line, possibly sooner, they will be on parity with out own military and Nuclear force but by then i imagine the world will be a far different place, both geopolitically and geographically speaking.

originally posted by: intrptr
Not 'anything', US TOW missiles specifically, and as stated and linked, by Proxy thru sales direct to Saudi Arabia.

Nice try

I am not trying to catch you out; only correct you. The Kornet strike you posted was probably against an Iraqi M1A1 tank. Therefore, most likely fired by ISIS, in Iraq. Who supplied such a missile to ISIS? The point you made goes both ways.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: allsee4eye

Yes, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the most expensive version of the T-90 is slightly more than half the cost of an M1A2. Or with the fact that the T-90 will be easier to maintain and train on. This decision is only to spite the US.

Doesn't Iraq have a lot of legacy systems from Russia already? I thought that made it more likely that they would go with Russian hardware in the long run.

a reply to: paraphi

I am not trying to catch you out; only correct you. The Kornet strike you posted was probably against an Iraqi M1A1 tank.

"Probably?" I get that you are 'obscuring' US TOW missiles are in Syria, so what?